Teaching and learning STEM disciplines: A process perspective

STEM disciplines (science, technology, engineering, mathematics), have the particular feature of being based on theoretical and practical skills. Learning in the laboratory naturally focuses on the student who must do or create something, alone or in a small group, while benefiting from the teacher's supervision to gain good practices. In this context, the project’s status at the end of the session enables the students to assess the quality of their works themselves. During the project’s development process, they face the resistance of the problem that requires a solution. They use their know-how, mobilize the knowledge acquired in all areas of life, and solicit the resources of their group to optimize cognitive resources. Discoveries during the process and the project’s completion, together with the repetition of the exercises, provide intense pleasure and boost self-esteem. The next challenge is to transpose the dynamics from the laboratory to the hall. This challenge is reinforced by the emergence of a new generation of students, for whom interacting with the Internet and virtual agents is a natural part of their lives. In this perspective, Whitehead's thinking remains a resource that reminds us of what is essential in the educational process. It allows us to preserve this essential in today’s societal change. We show that the educational process has two important dimensions. The first relates to a crucial event in the individuation process, namely, the advent of a phenomenon of synesthesia in the subject, in the form of an acute awareness of what is important to her or him. This event is a turning point in the student's life. The second relates to the methodology, which, in Whitehead's case, takes the form of the ternary rhythm of education. We illustrate these two dimensions in a biology teaching project we call inverted funnel. Inspired by Whiteheadian pedagogy, the project takes advantage of the dynamics of romance-precision-generalization, and we hope that it will contribute to the emergence of the turning point in the student. This event is the very starting point of the educational process, the one that leads to the very nature of the learner. Such watershed not only purports to determine the direction of her or his educational process, but also that of his or her entire life

Circadian regulation of chloroplastic f and m thioredoxins through control of the CCA1 transcription factor

Chloroplastic thioredoxins f and m (TRX f and TRX m) mediate light regulation of carbon metabolism through the activation of Calvin cycle enzymes. The role of TRX f and m in the activation of Calvin cycle enzymes is best known among the TRX family. However, the discoveries of new potential targets extend the functions of chloroplastic TRXs to other processes in non-photosynthetic tissues. As occurs with numerous chloroplast proteins, their expression comes under light regulation. Here, the focus is on the light regulation of TRX f and TRX m in pea and Arabidopsis during the day/night cycle that is maintained during the subjective night. In pea (Pisum sativum), TRX f and TRX m1 expression is shown to be governed by a circadian oscillation exerted at both the transcriptional and protein levels. Binding shift assays indicate that this control probably involves the interaction of the CCA1 transcription factor and an evening element (EE) located in the PsTRX f and PsTRX m1 promoters. In Arabidopsis, among the multigene family of TRX f and TRX m, AtTRX f2 and AtTRX m2 mRNA showed similar circadian oscillatory regulation, suggesting that such regulation is conserved in plants. However, this oscillation was disrupted in plants overexpressing CCA1 (cca1-ox) or repressing CCA1 and LHY (cca1-lhy). The physiological role of the oscillatory regulation of chloroplastic TRX f and TRX m in plants during the day/night cycle is discussed

Philip Clayton et l’open panenthéisme émergentiste

Philip Clayton’s open emergent panentheism (OEP) is a postmodern theology of divine action in the world or providence resulting from his dialogical approach of science, philosophy, and religious pluralism. The cosmotheological model explains God's action in the world in a participatory paradigm. The functional frame to think of participative action is thus the OEP which he constructs being inspired by Schelling’s dialectical approach to God, taking elements from the open theism and the theory of radical emergence. Clayton’s way of doing theology and evolution confirm the profile of a type of panentheist theologian whose outlines had been sketched by the German philosopher Karl Christian Friedrich Krause, the one for whom doing theology is an expression of a way of believing. He is fully in phase with the panentheism of the Claremont School of theology by its whiteheadian tones. Therefore, this panentheism appears as reconstructive, transdisciplinary, metaphoric, autobiographical, pluralistic, transformative and spiritual, characteristics found in the theology of the most symbolic of them, John Cobb Jr. If the OEP is fundamentally structured in hope and salvation, it already allows approaching aspects of the seven traditional questions of the Christian faith. Finally, this panentheism offers a space of interaction between Churches stemming from the reformations, as well as an opportunity of dialogue with the French-speaking Catholic tradition.L’open panenthéisme émergentiste (OPE) de Philip Clayton est une théologie postmoderne de l’action divine dans le monde ou de la providence, élaborée dans le cadre d’un dialogue avec la science, la philosophie et le pluralisme religieux. Le modèle cosmothéologique rend compte de l’action de Dieu dans le paradigme de la participation. Le cadre fonctionnel pour penser l’agir participatif est donc l’OPE qu’il construit en s’inspirant de la dialectique schellingienne de l’idée de Dieu, des éléments de l’open théisme et de la théorie de l’émergence radicale. La manière de procéder et l’évolution de Clayton confirment le profil d’un type de théologien panenthéiste dont Karl Christian Friedrich Krause avait posé les caractéristiques, celui pour qui faire de la théologie est l’expression d’une manière de croire. Il s’inscrit pleinement dans le panenthéisme de l’École de Claremont par sa facture whiteheadienne. De ce fait, ce panenthéisme se présente comme une théologie reconstructive, transdisciplinaire, métaphorique, autobiographique, pluraliste, transformative et spirituelle, des caractéristiques que l’on retrouve dans la théologie du plus emblématique d’entre eux, John Cobb Jr. L’OPE est fondamentalement structurée dans l’espérance et le salut ; elle permet déjà d’aborder des aspects des sept questions traditionnelles de la foi chrétienne. Enfin, le panenthéisme offre un espace d’interaction entre les Églises issues des réformes, mais aussi une occasion de dialogue avec la tradition catholique francophone.(THEO - Théologie) -- UCL, 201